Don’t Give Your Power Away – Tarot for Personal Empowerment

Tarot as a Tool of Personal Empowerment

I recently began answering tarot related questions on a website called Quora.  There, people ask questions on what looks like pretty much any topic you can think of.  Experts in those fields answer the questions. 

I’ve only been on the site for about a month but it’s been so interesting to see what types of questions people have. It’s also become much more clear to me that the average person on the street still looks at the tarot primarily as a tool of divination.

The tarot is so much more than that – it’s such a fabulous tool for exploring our subconscious and personal growth. Nevertheless, most people still come to the tarot for just that – and that’s just fine. I would never tell someone how they should use the tarot. It’s a personal decision. AND even I am guilty on occasion of trying to get a feel for what’s headed my way. Who isn’t? 

If this is you or someone you know, I want to remind you that divinatory readings are accurate as of the moment they are done but they fail to take into account our human foibles and unpredictability. Meaning, while a reader may be seeing something very clearly – it’s impossible for them (based on the cards) to take all of the variables of free will into consideration. 

So, what does that look like? Let’s say you have a tarot reading done because you want to know if you’re going to get the job you’ve been hoping for. The reading will give you the probable outcome of the situation based on the moment of the reading. Based on that information, you may alter your behavior. It goes like this…. If the reader tells you that you’re not likely to get the job, you may not advocate for yourself the way you would otherwise by checking in to see if they received your resume and when they’d like to set up an interview – because you know they do – because you’re so awesome!  Not advocating for yourself might make all the difference – the interviewer may think you’re not as interested as the applicants who are reaching out.  If the reader hadn’t told you you weren’t going to get the job, you might have done those things because you know that’s what it takes to get in front of human resources.

If the reader tells you you will get the job, you may stop sending out resumes or change your spending habits because you’re going to be making more money soon. 

Consider this – have you noticed how you just gave your power away? With a single reading, someone you likely don’t know that well just influenced the course of your life.  And you let them.

A responsible taot reader will not state definitively what they see happening in the future. Instead, they may tell you what they see happening if you don’t make changes you need to make – or take the action you need to take. This puts you back in control.

I’ve been doing this long enough that I know some readers will prey on insecurities, struggles to make a decision, etc. and essentially create clients who are dependent on them.  It’s a symbiotic relationship. The reader gets repeat business. The client feels like they’re managing their lives effectively. 

What they don’t realize is that by finding someone who approaches the cards as a tool for personal growth or learning to use the cards themselves, they would actually be able to take their power back and learn to trust themselves again. 

If this is you, don’t beat yourself up. Most of us have just been so overwhelmed with life at one point or another we would have loved nothing more than someone to simply tell us what to do to achieve this, that, or the other. 

Just remember that there is actually more – better – higher wisdom available to you through your own relationship with guides, the tarot, your higher self, etc. than through regular traditional readings. The trick is to take the time to get to know and learn to trust yourself.